Hard Times for ‘The Big Easy’ Just eight months after the Asian tsunami, the world is again humbled by the power of nature. This event, however, makes us ask new questions ……. about human nature and American society.

Hurricane Katrina Objectives To have completed an MEDC case study To have sorted information into appropriate columns To sympathise with those involved

Task As the slides continue complete the task sheet filling in the gaps and answering the questions

Hurricane Katrina formed southeast of the Bahamas on 23 August It was the 12th tropical storm of the season and was to prove to be the most deadly for over 75 years

The Location of New Orleans New Orleans is in the state of Louisiana. It is located on the delta of the Mississippi River about 170km from its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico Florida Gulf of Mexico Mississippi River

Gulf of Mexico Mississippi Delta Lake Pontchartrin

Mississippi River

New Orleans : some facts A city of 470,000 people (67% Afro American) Founded by the French in 1718 Expanded by the Spaniards Bought by the USA for $15 million in 1803 A lively port and industrial city Home of jazz and cajun and creole cooking Hosts an annual mardi gras carnival Attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year

New Orleans lies in a basin below sea level so it has always been vulnerable to flooding New Orleans is protected from flooding by levées

But in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which swept by on 29 August, the levées broke and the city was flooded………

People who had transport fled the city Shop keepers boarded up their windows Volunteers helped to fill sandbags

Downtown New Orleans at the height of the storm on 29 August The eye of the hurricane passed to the east of the city

After the storm….. It seemed New Orleans had got off more lightly than expected… until the levées broke and water flooded into the city………… The levees held back up to 3m of water

Within 24 hours 80% of the city was under water

Streets turned into canals

The rising waters flooded the French Quarter

Affluent housing sinking beneath the rising tide

Public transport is out of action

With roads flooded, only the motorway fly-overs are high enough to rise above the water …but they are going no where!

Many people drown – Government estimates warn of several thousand dead

One hundred thousand people who were not able to leave the city…. …are trapped in their homes. Most of these had simply been too poor to flee

Most are desperate to be rescued

The water is polluted with sewage and oil ….but people are forced into it in order to survive

Food and drinking water becomes scarce within hours and is only flown in two days later

Hospitals evacuate patients by boat

As the story unfolds on TV screens across the globe, the American government seems slow to respond to the scale of the disaster

The police struggle to contain a rising tide of lawlessness

Racial discrimination became an issue… ‘ I hate the way that they portray us in the media. See a black family it says ‘they are looting’. See a white family it says ‘they are looking for food’. And you know it has been 4 or 5 days waiting for help because most people are black. President Bush does not care about black people.’ Who said this?

Kanye West at his concert: ‘ I hate the way that they portray us in the media. See a black family it says ‘they are looting’. See a white family it says ‘they are looking for food’. And you know it has been 4 or 5 days waiting for help because most people are black. President Bush does not care about black people.’

A slow evacuation begins

Some emergency relief begins to arrive in the city

Helicopters begin to airlift some of the stranded to safety

But with no means of evacuation, conditions continue to deteriorate for most of those still trapped in the city

23,000 people take refuge in the New Orleans Superbowl without running water and adequate sanitation. Reports likened conditions to ‘a Third World refugee camp’

People remain very fearful

Four days after the storm US President George Bush flies over the city to view the catastrophe first hand ……. “The enormity of the task requires more resources” “In America we do not abandon our fellow citizens in their hour of need” “Where our response is not working we will make it right. Where our response is working, we will duplicate it” “The main priority is to restore and maintain law and order and assist in recovery and evacuation.” … the question is what was he doing before this!?

More helicopters are drafted in to help with the evacuation of the city

Convoys of buses evacuate people from the Convention centre in New Orleans

Six days after the storm, the city is almost empty

The waters slowly receeded The grim task of searching buildings and streets began… many bodies had floated around until the level dropped

“The first few days were a natural disaster, the last four days were a man-made disaster” Phillip Holt, 51 New Orleans evacuee Photograph credits – ‘Der Spiegel’

Total damage: 1836 dead 10,000 homeless 3 million with no electricity 2 major bridges collapsed and many roads destroyed

Exam Question i. Name a climatic hazard and describe its location ii. Explain the natural processes that caused this event iii. Explain how human activities affected the impact of the event